Mulsanne…and Majesty

August 29, 2012

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As the years roll by, my affinity for the Old World grows stronger. The constructs of long ago—from castles to cars—have tremendous interest; their permanence and quality provide a stark reminder that the 75 years the insurance actuaries tell us we're supposed to get in our lifetimes are fleeting. Castles and cars from long ago were lovingly hand-built with textures, crowns, touches and spirit. Many of today's vehicles look and feel like simple transportation: tinny, disposable, pedestrian; suburban homes in the 21st century often seem dour and utilitarian.

On a trip to the United Kingdom, we had a chance to combine the Old World—a multi-castle tour in Northumbria, England and the Scottish lowlands—with the very best of the New World, the Bentley Mulsanne. While the Mulsanne was Bentley's (www.bentleymotors.com) first all-new model since the 1930s, it is also an extraordinary example of Old World, with its hand-built craftsmanship, and is one of the finest luxury vehicles ever built. It is a mammoth, exquisitely sculpted automotive masterpiece, and with hundreds of hours per car invested in wood and leather appointments alone, the car is a stunning throwback to the pursuit of automotive perfection. With no slight intended, it has been said that driving a Rolls Royce is about arriving and departing; driving the Bentley is about the journey. How true.

Castles elicit awe and reverence in part because their builders achieved such magnificence without cranes or computers; great minds that put to work laborers, horses, ropes, pulleys and hammers constructed the fortresses. Edinburgh Castle (www.edinburghcastle.gov.uk) is located on Castle Rock, and was first noted in history around A.D. 600. It rises majestically above the town of the same name, and is the oldest continuously occupied fortified place in Britain. Mary, Queen of Scots, gave birth to James VI in the castle, and the fortress seems to channel the ghost of one of Scotland's most famous sons, William Wallace (seen in the film Braveheart), whose statue stands at the entrance. In front of the castle, the Mulsanne looked like modern art against the ancient stoneworks.

Heading southeast out of Edinburgh on the motorway for the second leg of the journey, we pressed the throttle hard and the Bentley leapt forward. The Mulsanne weighs three tons: enough metal to make three “transportation” cars. But rather than being sluggish, the Mulsanne is surprisingly responsive. Twin turbos help push the 6.75 liter V-8 to 505 hp. Tight, two-lane roads provided the final roadways to the next castle, and for an automobile that approaches the size of a Chevy Suburban, it's behavior on the tight and bumpy roads was very good, thanks to the electronically controlled air suspension.

Dated to before A.D. 500, Bamburgh Castle (www.bamburghcastle.com) is perched on a rocky outcrop above the North Sea in the Northumberland region of England, and the castle is remarkable for its horizontal lines that blend into the natural landscape beside the sea. It is also remarkable because it is privately owned, and has been in the possession of the Armstrong family since the Victorian era. The Mulsanne took on a less sculptural character when photographed at Bamburgh: The lines of the long body of the car melded perfectly with the lines of the castle and the seashore. A tour of the castle, with much time spent at the “Keep,” completed the tour, and I headed west from the coast and back into Scotland toward the storied Floors Castle.

This portion of the drive was a perfect time to explore the Mulsanne's electronics, and there is no Old World in them. A 2,200-watt Naim entertainment system is the centerpiece of the technology suite, and the navigation and smartphone connections are world class. The drive passed quickly, and I arrived at Floors Castle (www.roxburghe.net), which is situated at the top of a storybook meadow near Kelso, Scotland. On the tour, we learned that Floors is actually a “country house,” as it lacks the fortress battlements of a true castle. Quibbling. It is an imposing and grand structure, and is the home of the Duke of Roxburghe. The gardens and grounds are renowned, and the tranquil views toward the south are the subject of artwork.

With the third and final castle tour concluded, I turned the Mulsanne north, towards Edinburgh. The perfect bridge between the Old World and the New, the Bentley is resplendent in luxury and performance, a modern homage to the greatness of the castle visionaries who dreamed of greatness and built it with their hands.